Potato Kielbasa Skillet Dinner

This was surprisingly very yum, yum yummy!!!

Potato Kielbasa Skillet

1 pound red potatoes, cubed

3 tablespoons water

3/4 pound smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon pepper

4 cups fresh baby spinach

5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (I used Hormel bacon pieces)

Place potatoes and water in a microwave safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 4 minutes or until tender; drain.

In a large skillet, saute kielbasa and onion in oil until onion is tender. Add potatoes; saute 3-5 minutes longer or until kielbasa and potatoes are lightly browned.

Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, mustard thyme and pepper; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Add spinach and bacon; cook and stir until spinach is wilted.

Easy Chicken Cacciatore

This is a two-thumbs-up recipe!!

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup flour

1 cup thinly sliced onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 16-ounce can whole tomatoes

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms

1/4 teaspoon sal

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon basil

Dredge chicken in flour. In a skillet heat oil on medium heat. Brown chicken in oil, remove from pan.

In the same skillet, sauté onions, pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Stir in remaining ingredients. Add chicken and cover. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve over thin spaghetti.

Serve Chicken Cacciatore with a tossed garden salad and Italian bread for a quick and easy family meal.

YUMMY!!!

Broiled Salmon with Onion, Tomato and Lemon

This was so good and yummy!!!

The piece of salmon that I had was huge, so I had to double the recipe and cook it longer, but I wanted leftovers for Joe to take to work. I do love salmon!!!

So here goes the recipe:

Broiled Salmon with Onion, Tomato and Lemon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons minced parsley

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 16-ounce salmon fillet with skin

4 thin onion slices

4 thin tomato slices

4 thin lemon slices

Melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat. Add parsley, garlic and lemon juice and simmer 2 minutes.

Preheat broiler. Place salmon on large piece of heavy-duty foil; season with salt and pepper. Brush salmon with half of the butter mixture. Arrange onion, tomato and lemon slices over the salmon. Drizzle remaining butter mixture over the top. Fold foil over the salmon and crimp edges tightly to seal. Place salmon package in broiler pan. Broil 5 inces from heat source until salmon is just cooked through, about 10 minutes.

This is what it looked like just before I put it in the oven.

Wendy's Birthday Cake

Sunday we celebrated my niece, Wendy's birthday!

It was supposed to be a surprise. But I'm not too sure it was. Hmmmm?!!

I made her a french vanilla cake with buttercream. Decorating consists of a baskestweave design on the sides, gum paste yellow rose and leaves.

And I still hate writing on cakes!!! It's amaturist!!

Wendy's family served a very nice dinner and I had a good time visiting with them and was very happy I went. We live only a several miles away from Wendy and we hardly ever see each other!!!

What's wrong with us!!!

Hope you had

a very Happy Birthday, Wendy!!!

Carlee's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe that my little munchkin is 3 years old already!! Yet when she was born, it seems so long ago. Time has passed by so quickly!

I had the kids at my house two days before Carlee's birthday, so when Kami came to pick them up, she decided to make the kitties to go on Carlee's birthday cake.
Carlee just adores kitties, but these are the only ones that she can touch, since she is allergic to real kitties!! Kami did make some very cute ones for her.

The birthday person usually gets to have their favorite foods on their day. Since Carlee loves...I mean...LOVES...hot dogs, Kami wanted to make homemade corn dogs. It was a first for us and they came out very good!!! You can find the recipe here.

Collin handed the hot dogs to Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn dipping the hot dogs in the cornmeal mixture.

Carlee said "Heck with waiting...I'm eating mine NOW!!!"

Kaitlyn putting a corn dog in the deep fryer while Tina cooked them.

Mmmmmm Mmmmmm!!!

After we ate our meal, it was time for cake!!

I made the cake using a recipe from my big cake book that Kami gave me. She picked out an applesauce pound cake recipe that sounded good. I substituted the eggs with ENER-G egg replacer so that Carlee can eat it. I also didn't add the dates and the walnuts, even though it would have been very yummy with them! I used regular cake pans too!

Applesauce Pound Cake

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3 cups unsweetened applesauce

1 cup chopped, pitted dates

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 10" tube pan.

Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt into a large bowl. Beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs (or egg replacer), one at a time, until just blended after each addition. With the mixer at low speed, gradually beat in the dry ingredients, alternating with the applesauce. By hand, stir in the dates and walnuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 80-90 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

I took the top tier of the cake off for Carlee and I dropped it!!! lol!! Good thing she didn't care!!!

BLOW!!!

I handed Carlee a fork and let her have at it!!!

The kitties tasted the best!!!

Oh Yeah!!! While we were cooking the corn dogs, some how the door to Kami and Eric's bedroom was left open and Carlee saw where they were hiding her present!! Once she saw her new doll house, there was no way she was going to wait until she opened the other presents!!!

Collin gave her a stroller for her babies.

What a nice big brother!!!

There's Carlee opening the present from Joe and I.

It's a Fisher Price All About Town toy. I thought it would help her with her development. The only thing was, is that everyone loved playing with it!!!

Even me!!!!